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- Backbone management: Putin called the rise in the cost of the Moscow-St. Petersburg High-Speed Railway inevitable
Backbone management: Putin called the rise in the cost of the Moscow-St. Petersburg High-Speed Railway inevitable
The cost of the project of Russia's first high-speed railroad Moscow - St. Petersburg is inevitable not only because of inflation, but also due to the key rate and the increase in the cost of loans in commercial banks. This was stated by Vladimir Putin on December 11 at a meeting with members of the government. However, the president emphasized: manufacturers should not cover themselves with these circumstances and "inflate prices without any reason at all". Other topics include the automation of obtaining permits for business through "Gosuservices" and the situation with staff training in the IT sector.
Obtaining licenses for business through "Gosuservices"
On December 11, after participating in the international AI Journey conference, Vladimir Putin moved from discussing the prospects of the IT sector with industry representatives to the use of new technologies in everyday life. The first thing he touched upon at the meeting with the government was the work of the service of issuing permits for business through the "Gosuservices" portal. The Cabinet is doing a lot of work to reduce the administrative burden on entrepreneurs, part of which is the optimization of procedures for obtaining various licenses and permits, said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko. Thus, as a result of joint work with business, the average term for obtaining licenses was shortened by 4.5 times compared to 2021 - from 45 to 10 days.
- We made the procedure itself very simple and convenient, as far as possible, literally, as it can be done now, in three clicks. And today you can apply for and receive more than 400 types of the most popular permits, as well as 51 types of licenses on the portal "Gosuservices", - said Deputy Prime Minister.
As a result, the number of applications to "Gosuservices" for obtaining licenses and permits has increased from 16 thousand per year to about 1 million in three years. In the future, according to Grigorenko, it is planned to introduce their proactive extension. In addition, special attention is paid to feedback from business. With the help of the mechanism of pre-trial appeal against the decisions of permitting authorities, an entrepreneur can file a complaint on the state portal. For a year and a half they have made more than 4 thousand.
At the moment, a single service for issuing licenses through "Gosuservices" is an important advantage, especially for companies in the coal industry, the Council of Ministers says. In a highly regulated environment with a multitude of permits and approvals that must be obtained to conduct business, the transition to a digital platform greatly simplifies the process of interaction with government agencies.
- The ability to submit all documents online, as well as to track the status of applications in real time, makes it possible to speed up the process, reduce administrative barriers and, as a result, improve the efficiency of companies' work. In addition, automation of the application process minimizes the risks of errors and delays, which is critical for the coal industry, where the timeliness of compliance with regulations and obtaining permits directly affects the stability of production processes," Artem Sheikin, deputy chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council, told Izvestia.
Electronic licenses and permits, which have legal force, facilitate interaction with regulatory authorities and reduce paperwork, which contributes to more efficient project management and cost reduction, the parliamentarian specified.
Personnel prospects in the IT sector
The issue of personnel training for the IT-industry was also important. Today about 600 thousand students study in Russian universities in these specialties, and 500 universities are training such specialists, said Minister of Digital Development of the Russian Federation Maksut Shadaev. In addition, more than 376,000 college students in the Russian Federation are studying IT specialties, with a 42% increase over the past three years, Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov added.
The average salary in the industry has reached 185 thousand rubles, he added. It is noteworthy that at the moment more than 850 thousand people are employed in IT, of which more than 100 thousand have joined them in the last eight months. Maksut Shadaev added that the gap between the average salary in the economy and the average salary in the IT industry is growing in the Russian Federation. "This, of course, indicates that we are short of personnel," he noted.
Against the background of the need for an influx of specialists into the industry, Vladimir Putin considered it fair to suggest that IT companies, which enjoy state support, should be involved in personnel training. He also instructed to pay special attention to the training of specialists in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for schools, colleges and technical schools.
- Today we are preparing a unified state textbook on informatics. It will reflect domestic innovations in the sphere of high technologies, describe new programming languages, including training in domestic software, which is developing today and replacing Western programs, - said Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Sergey Kravtsov.
In addition, there is much to be done in the Russian Federation to increase interest in math and science, including in terms of teacher training, Putin said. "We lack specialists who deal with children in these areas, in these disciplines," he said.
Construction of Russia's first high-speed railroad
At the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers they also discussed difficulties with the construction of Russia's first Moscow-St. Petersburg High-Speed Railway. The President instructed the government and banks not to delay and to make a decision on granting loans for the construction of the high-speed highway. Vladimir Putin demanded not to allow unreasonable overpricing of the HSL project under the pretext of objective factors.
At a meeting with the government, he said that the rise in price is inevitable, it is due not only to inflation, but also to the key rate, with the growth of which increases the cost of loans from commercial banks.
- I drew the attention of manufacturers, as well as those in the government who supervise the relevant areas of real production: in no case can we cover ourselves with these objective circumstances to raise prices without any reason, only under the pretext of the key rate and inflation," the president said.
Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev said that there are indeed problematic issues in the draft, but all of them are "current". According to the order of the Cabinet of Ministers, the design and construction of the Moscow - St. Petersburg High-Speed Railway is scheduled for 2024-2028, its commissioning - for April 1, 2028. The highway will increase passenger traffic between Moscow and St. Petersburg from 5 to 30 million.
- Russian Railways is working on the design and construction of the highway. The Moscow - St. Petersburg HSM route consists of three sections: the HSM entrance to Moscow (Kryukovo - Alabushevo - Moscow section), the HSM entrance to St. Petersburg (it is Obukhovo-2) and the high-speed section of the highway (Kryukovo - Obukhovo-2 section). Russian Railways is already constructing the section of the entrance to Moscow. In October this year they started construction of the entrance to St. Petersburg," he said.
In general, the amount of funds for the implementation of the project is 2.165 trillion rubles according to its passport excluding VAT. Of these, 648 billion is loan financing from a syndicate of banks (Sber, VTB, Gazprombank and Sovcombank). For the purchase of high-speed trains, 410 billion rubles is envisaged and 43 trains are planned to be delivered by 2030. According to Vitaly Savelyev, Russian banks are ready to provide loan funds for construction, and a decision will be made by the end of the year.
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